Senior bureaucrats aren’t supposed to work for any company they’ve recently had substantial involvement with for at least a year after leaving the provincial civil service.
But the Gordon Campbell administration decided those guidelines didn’t conflict with the former head of the government’s oil and gas division joining the Canadian subsidiary of EOG Resources Inc. – a Houston, Texas-based firm developing natural gas reserves in northeastern British Columbia.
Gordon Goodman was put in charge of that government division more than two years ago.
In that position, he was responsible for administering programs that can, in certain circumstances, reduce the amount of money – or royalties – companies must pay the province when extracting oil and gas resources. According to records obtained via a freedom of information request, two applications approved by Goodman in 2009 for such reductions came from EOG Resources Canada Inc.
An energy and mines ministry spokesman stressed those applications, which had been reviewed and recommended by government staff, were among hundreds Goodman gave the green light to. One of them will provide the company with a $3.84 million royalty credit to help EOG build a road to shale gas projects in the Horn River Basin. The other will reduce the royalty rate for the first phase of development for those projects.
In a letter dated January 4, 2010, Goodman notified EOG the government had finalized that rate reduction. On April 16, he left the civil service to work for the company.
It’s unclear what his new responsibilities are with EOG.
When we called its Calgary office last Wednesday, an individual in the general manager’s office told us Goodman’s title was “government and regulatory affairs” manager.
A day later, the Calgary office’s front desk described him as EOG’s “health and safety” manager.
Meanwhile, the energy and mines spokesman stated last Thursday that Goodman was the company’s “health, safety and environment” manager.
But a citizens’ service ministry spokesman later added that he was also responsible for “regulatory affairs.” What is clear, though, is that, on June 23, Goodman registered as an in-house lobbyist for the company.
He signed up to lobby the government about its “oil and gas regulatory structure” to enhance EOG’s “efficiency and cost effectiveness.”
He’s also registered to lobby for fiscal measures to help make a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal near Kitimat “economic.” EOG owns a 49% stake in that terminal.
According to government guidelines, senior bureaucrats must wait a year before they can be hired by a company they had “substantial involvement” with during the “year immediately preceding” the end of their employment.
Nor can they lobby for or give counsel to such a firm for that period. But the energy and mines spokesman stated the government assessed Goodman’s case and determined that “there was no conflict in his moving directly to work for EOG after leaving government.” That assessment was made after Goodman contacted the province’s public service agency “to ensure he was not in conflict regarding government’s post-employment restrictions.”
The citizens’ services spokesman declined to provide specifics on why the agency found Goodman wasn’t in a conflict with those restrictions. But New Democrat energy, mines and petroleum resources critic John Horgan called the decision “outrageous.”
“To have an internal review saying we’ve reviewed the matter and found no conflict is not how we should be operating.”
Horgan added that British Columbia needs a law, not just guidelines, barring such activity.
Goodman didn’t return phone calls and an email from Public Eye. Nor did EOG vice-president and general manager Billy Helms respond to requests for comment.